Green Tree Tavern Stand

Archaeological Investigation of the Green Tree Tavern Stand

      This issue of the Mon-Yough Journal focuses on the ongoing excavation of the archaeological site across the road from the Abel Colley Tavern, the museum for the Fayette County Historical Society. The excavation has been vexing as well as intriguing. After four years of excavation, the identity of the site is still problematic. According to local oral history, the remains are those of the Greene Tree Tavern Stand. Yet there is only one published mention of the site as the location of the Green Tree Tavern. Lengthy research at the Uniontown Public Library and the Fayette County Courthouse by Dwayne Santella, Beverly Santella, and the author yielded no clues about the identity of the site, its age, nor its usage as a tavern stand to service private and commercial travelers. While Able Colley, who had his home built across the road from the site, is mentioned in the tax records as having a license to operate a 

 

Ae Colley (taken from Searight, 1894). Colley home, now the location of the Fayette Historical Society Museum.            

                                                                          

tavern as early as 1838, the available document record cannot tell us whether his ownership of a tavern refers to his home built in 1835 and used as a tavern, or the site across the road, the subject of this issue. Again, oral history connects the archaeological site with Abel Colley, but did Able own the building complex referred to as the Green Tree Tavern prior to 1838 when he inherited properties from his father, Peter Colley, who died that year.

Excerpts taken from 1838 will of Peter Colley:

 

“To son, Abel Colley, Sam Adam’s tract excluding ten acres of said tract adjoining, and including the buildings at the Old Tavern stand at the Plump Stock/Sock Road equaling

about 110 acres occupied currently by deceased David Colley’s heirs.

 

Also to Abel, the tract called Frost Place of 30 acres

 

Also to Abel, the tavern tract containing 55 acres all equaling nearly 200 acres adjoining land of Joseph Beall Phillips heirs, Mrs Searight, and others”

 

While informative, it has not been possible to determine if one of these properties contains the site across from Abel Colley’s home.

     One fact is certain regarding the site, all the building footprints thus far delineated, like those of other still standing structures from the first half of the l9th century, are parallel to US  40, the National Road. Historical records state that the National Road was built across Fayette County in 1818. It is highly probable that the building complex, the site, was thus built sometime after 1818 and not before as some oral history accounts have stated.

     The ending date for the site is also problematic. Oral historical accounts – which cannot be substantiated with documents – suggest the destruction of the tavern, and perhaps some of its dependencies, by fire occurred prior to 1850. A thorough examination of the available newspaper collections stored on microfilm from approximately 1830 to 1860 by an intern working for the chapter did not find any reference regarding the destruction of the tavern. However, it is possible that a story describing the demise of the tavern was published in one of the missing newspaper issues. The site artifact assemblage does not provide any assistance, since several examples of ceramics and bottles dating to the second half of the 19^th century being recovered. Chapter members will continue to review archival documents as these become available.

 The Archaeology of the Tavern Site

     Excavation at the site started in May, 2019 (see picture below). The standard sized unit was a 2 m². Initial excavation began where a noticeable rise or swell in the surface was apparent. Excavation confirmed the existence of a dense concentration of limestone rubble.

     An important question was what to expect regarding buildings. All of the structures previously shown were built with stone foundations. What this the case with our tavern?

     One of the best means of inferring the type of structure once present is by examining its footprint. Different types of structures can have different footprints. As horizontal exposure progressed, segments of dry laid stone foundations or footers were exposed. It would appear our structure and its outbuildings were supported by these. Such foundations are predominately associated with structures built from logs.

     Excavation identified the presence of an extensive, artifact rich, sheet midden – feature 5 – denoted by the white dashed line superimposed upon the aerial photo. Beneath it were several deep, 

Feature 1. Limestone rubble.

Drone image showing extent of excavations in 2019.  

stone-lined or chinked, rectangular post holes visible in the aerial photo. While such reinforced post holes tend to be wall supports, these did not form any pattern. Also visible in the aerial picture denoted by red lines were segments of dry laid foundation stones.

     Visible in the photo below is a partially exposed three-course thick, rectangular shaped foundation made from cut limestone. Within the foundation were pockets oxidized soil suggestive of burning. This was the extend of excavation in 2019. Of course the COVID lockdown presented us from do any work in 2020.

     In 2021 several California University of California students assisted with the excavations. The infusion of their enthusiasm and energy helped make up for the lost field time in 2020. Excavations exposed additional stone-lined post holes, and more of the dry laid foundations. 

     

                                            

Excavation also completely exposed the rectangular shaped, cut limestone stone foundation first identified in 2019. The foundation measured 1.88 m by 3 m (7 ft by 10 ft) in size. The floor of the foundation (outlined with red lines) consists of disjointed, cut limestone cobbles. Our current thinking is that the configuration might be the remnant of a chimney box of some sort. The size of the foundation seems too small to have been the foundation for a summer kitchen. The foundation could also be the remnant of either a bake oven or a smokehouse; see image below. In addition, the sheet midden identified in 2019 extended across the entire area excavated between 2021-23. 

Picture of stone foundation

     Excavations in 2024 exposed additional sections of dry stacked stone foundations and a linear discoloration some three meters wide by more than four meters in length was exposed. Excavation to delineate its configuration or footprint recovered several artifacts that functionally would be associated with black smiting, such as horse and oxen shoes, files, pliers, and tools for working leather. The surface of the stain contained a small amount of cinders, coal fragments, small stones, and charcoal fragments. 

     Unfortunately, excavation could not chase out the dimensions of the stain. Such stains are consistent with the presence of a structure and represent debris that filtered down through the flooring. But such stains could also represent the actual floor. Because of the presence of smiting tools, the horse and oxen shoes, and the debris on the floor, we believe the latter proposition best characterizes the existence of the stain. For the moment, lab work is occupying the chapter as we attempt to assess catalogue the thousands of artifacts recovered from five field seasons. 

     Volunteers are Welcome and interested persons should contact the chapter president at john.nass.1813@gmail.com. In fact, we are in need of help! Prior archaeology experience is not required and volunteers will learn first-hand how to identify and catalogue artifacts from the site. 

John Nass, Jr.

     

    

.

History of Mon-Yough Chapter #3 Archaeological Investigations

   History of Mon-Yough Chapter #3 Archaeological Investigations 

     As previously mentioned in the initial posting of the Monyoughjournal, the chapter was chartered in 1973 at California State College. Membership consisted predominately of students with the Anthropology Program faculty serving as advisors. Many of the founding student members acquired their initial field experience while working at the Campbell Farm site, a precontact habitation site in Grindstone, Fayette County. Five field schools were held at the site and chapter members under the supervision of William Johnson continued additional testing in the mid-1970s. 

 Chapter members played a significant role in helping test and surface collect other precontact Monongahela Culture habitation sites in Wahington, Fayette, Westmoreland, and Greene counties to obtain a large sample of the cultural material with which to outline a regional chronology. Of particular interest was the acquisition of ceramic sherds, especially those with decoration and/or appendages. The sherds were used to help create a series of ceramic types, much like those described by Mayer-Oaks (1955) and Richard George, both affiliated with the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Sites investigated included Vesta, Speers, Labash, Hartley, Fuller Hill, and Deterick Farm. Chapter members 

Testing at the Vesta site

                         

also participated either directly or indirectly in excavations at the historic period Searights Tavern, Peter Colley Tavern, Breasher House, Nemacolin Castle, and Gaddis Fort sites, all in Fayette County. (Note: Jones, Novak, Otvos, and Sorn were not sites tested by the Chapter) (Nass 2006). 

Map showing the location of selected site investigated by chapter members

Testing at the Speers site

                                          

    

Sample of rim sherds from the Speers site

     In the early 1980s, due to a drop in Anthropology majors, the chapter went inactive. In 2011, students, faculty, and interested individuals sent a petition to the state organization asking that the chapter be approved for active status. Since then, the chapter has been involved in several excavations in southwestern Pennsylvania. Noteworthy projects include assisting Marc Henshaw 

Testing at the Labash site

                                   

Base map of excavations at the Labash site

Excavations at the Campbell Farm site

                                                

Feature excavations at Campbell Farm                                                                        

testing sites associated with the riverboat industry and trade in Brownsville, testing at the precontact Shriver site in Greene County, and assisting Fay-Penn Economic Development Council by testing archaeological site locations within the boundaries of a proposed business park. Since 2019, the chapter has been conducting excavations at the possible location of the 19th century Green Tree Tavern Stand. The investigation is being done on behalf of the Fayette County Historical Society.

     From 2012 until 2021, the chapter held its monthly meetings and lab sessions at California University. However, all outside groups, including the Mon-Yough chapter were no longer permitted to meet on-campus following the end of the Covid shutdown from the prior year, even though most members of the chapter were students and faculty. Matt Cumberbridge, a chapter member who is also the Executive Director of the Greene County Historical Museum, offered the basement of the museum library as a replacement for the lab at the university. The chapter has sense used the space for its lab sessions and research. 

     With the assistance of Matt, the chapter was able to secure funding for the purchase of additional lab equipment, for supporting a lecture series, a collaboration with the Greene County Historical Museum, and to purchase a projection system for installation in the main hall in the museum. The projection system allows speakers to use PowerPoint and other media resources for their talks. When possible, many of the talks are carried live on YouTube. Through our collaboration, we have been able to host several talks on archaeology, local history, architecture, 19th century trades, and technologies for the general public, chapter members, and members of the Greene County Historical Society.

     Keeping with the theme of the chapter's activities, the next issue of the Journal will focus on the archaeological investigation of the historic site believed to be the Green Tree Tavern  Stand.

John Nass, Jr. 

Mon-Yough Chapter President

 References 

Mayer-Oakes, William J. 1955 Prehistory of the Upper Ohio Valley: an Introductory Archaeological Study. Anthropological Series, No. 2. Annals of Carnegie Museum 34. Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh. 

Nass, John P., Jr. 2006 “Thirty Years and Still Going:” A History of California University of Pennsylvania’s Archaeological Investigations in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Paper Presented at the 77th Annual Meeting of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, Washington, Pennsylvania.

Welcome to the Mon-Yough Chapter Journal

 

Best wishes to everyone for good health and a bright and issue-free 2025!

     I am pleased to announce the debut of the Mon-Yough Chapter’s blog, The Mon Yough Journal. The purpose of the blog is to share with the public and the archaeology community the activities of the Mon-Yough Chapter and topics of archaeological interest. The Journal will be bimonthly and will be written by chapter members and invited guest contributors. The blog will focus on artifacts, archaeological sites, gender, dietary information, topics of archaeological and historical interest, state and national policies that impact archaeological research and how findings are disseminated to the public through publications and displays.

     The Mon-Yough Chapter #3 of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology was chartered in 1973 at California State College by students and faculty. Geographically, the chapter covers Greene, Washington, and Fayette counties in southwestern Pennsylvania. Membership is open to all individuals who have an interest in learning about the history and prehistory of the region. For information about membership, please consult the chapter’s website: myarcheology.org. Information about meeting, lab and field work opportunities, and lectures can also be found on the webpage. Also follow us on Facebook:

     This initial story focuses upon the topic of taverns that once dotted the landscape along roadways such as the National Pike (US 40). The purpose of the National Road was to facilitate the movement of people and goods between towns and settlements along the Ohio River and points farther east, such as Cumberland, Maryland, and Philadelphia. The Mon-Yough chapter has conducted excavations at one such tavern site along the National Road in Fayette County since the summer of 2019 (Coley et. al.2022). 

     In the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, taverns were the equivalent of the present-day rest stops and travel centers such as the Loves seen along many of the roadways today. There were not regulations governing the food, accommodations, and overall hygiene. Taverns could be a family’s home, or a structure built specifically to serve the needs of those traveling the roadways.

     At this point in the conversation, a distinction between the types of taverns is necessary. The first example is the homes. Private residences were located at cross-roads, as well as scattered along the length of a roadway. These were opportunistic enterprises that catered to the dietary needs of individuals, families, and their livestock. While 19^th century pictures of private residence taverns exist, little archaeological research has been conducted on such sites.

     These modest log structures can be contrasted with the family owned, two-story stone structures built by Peter Colley (c.1801) and William Searight (1821) located along US 40 or the National Road. Archaeological excavations at these two sites by California State College in the 1970s (Michael 1971, 1973; Michael and Carlisle 1976) revealed artifact assemblages consistent with a domestic household. This should not be surprising considering both were home first, and businesses second. 

Searight’s Tavern, Fayette County (post-1900 image)

 

 

     The archaeological assemblage at a tavern site such as the Compass Inn would be very different from those from the Colley and Searight tavern sites for the simple fact that families lived at the latter two sites, while the Compass Inn was predominately an inn for guests. while site and special classes of material remains such as stemware and higher value ceramics are absent.

     There were also a class of tavern above the small home and taverns, such as Searight’s Tavern in Fayette County located along the National Road. The wagon stand catered to waggoneers (sometimes called freighters), and drovers. Waggoneers were professional drivers for hire who hauled goods – the truck drivers of their time, and they were the most common traveler on the National Road at that time. “In the days when the national road was at the height of its supremacy, these wagon stands were located at every mile of the road’s length. They were unpretentious frame buildings often with spacious yards for wagons, livestock, and a large watering trough and barns for the horses (Coley et. al.2022). 

     There were no beds for the wagoner in these stands. At night the barroom became the sleeping quarters for the teamsters who slept on the floor, before the fire, rolled up in their blankets. In the summer waggoneers usually slept in the commodious yard with their teams. These large yards were a principal feature of the wagon stand. The barns to were large, capable of stabling as many as 50 horses” (McSwigan (1940:12). Although they carried their own whisky jug for refreshment between stops, they were good patrons at the bar. They often brought their own horse feed with them but frequently found it necessary to supplement with forage supplied by owner (as cited in Yoder (1969:71). The wagoner would not have been the best-off customer, but they would have been a frequent patron of the same tavern stand since they retraced the same delivery routes over and over (Coley et. al.2022). 

      Drovers would have also been a frequent guest at these wagon stands. Casandra Vivian describes them as “. . . among the most colorful of travelers were the drovers with their herds of sheep, geese, turkeys, hogs, or cattle. They ambled along blocking the road especially at toll houses, where they had to be counted…off they would go 5,000 turkeys gobbling and screaming down the road. It took weeks, sometimes months to reach their destination” (Vivian 2004: 26).

      Unscaled taverns and Inns, such as the Compass Inn in Westmoreland County and the Century Inn in Washington County, were known to cater to stagecoach passengers who would have been wealthier, more affluent travelers. This clientele traveled in the “painted and ornamented stagecoaches with plush interiors and cushioned seats” (Vivian (2004:28). These upper-class travelers would have expected more refined accommodations. The better class of inns “had a parlor used as a sitting room for women travelers, or might be hired for exclusive use of wealthy people or family” (Earle (1969:41). The parlor 

Compass Inn, Westmoreland County

Century Inn, then known as Hill’s Tavern, Washington County

was a place for women to engage in polite conversation away from the usually rowdy barroom.  Inns were largen than most taverns and wagon stands and most likely had second floor bedrooms, along with a ballroom on the upper floor where community dances may have taken place. They would have had a large barroom that was the center of activity with a separate dining room. They also offered more services, and often included a post office, a store, and a blacksmith forge. The village that developed around Searights tavern featured several services for travelers.

     While distinguishing between Inns, taverns, and wagon stands can be difficult, something they all had in common is they all served food and drinks to their patrons. Smaller taverns and wagon stands would have served simpler meals, while unscaled taverns and inns may have also served simple meals, but balanced with more elaborate meals, like those found in hotels in major cities of the time. The culinary encounters experienced at small taverns can only be imagined. The menu at the small family operated taverns would tend to be what the family itself would consume.     In any case, food at taverns and inns varied with the seasons. Consumables came from local farms, rivers or streams, and the surrounding wilderness. Fresh fruits and vegetables were only available at harvest times. Some vegetables were preserved by pickling and during the winter months, dried, salted, smoked, and preserved food was served. Meat was the main food served at these meals. Sometimes individuals were fed within the home at the family table, but often a separate room was built onto to house to maintain the separation of the private from the public space (Coley et. al.2022). 

     Several different meats may have been served at once. Fowls, especially chicken were standard at the tavern meal. They were easier to keep fresh since they could be slaughtered and cooked much faster, and with much more ease than beef or pork. Other meats offered at the tavern table included venison, turtle, squirrel, beef, and pork, including bacon. Fish and oysters would have also been served. Common vegetables consumed in this area included cabbage, corn, peas, onions, carrots, and potatoes.

     Other offerings available at the tavern table may have included cheese, crackers, jellies, preserves, and different kinds of cakes and pies. Non-alcoholic drinks served with meals included milk, buttermilk, coffee, tea, and iced water. An example of a meal that may have been had at an inn According to an early traveler, “ . . . Mrs. Houstoun’s supper in Brownsville, Pennsylvania in the early 1840’s was probably better than average. Among other things she served several kinds of corn and wheat breads, all delicious, johnny cakes with fresh butter and molasses, strawberry, apricot, and peach preserves, and rich cream and excellent tea.” Of a supper in the same region, Mrs. Trollope says, “. . . we were regaled luxuriously on wild turkey and mountain venison…the vegetables were also extremely fine” (Yoder (1969:142). Most likely this was a supper that you might find at an inn that catered to stagecoach passengers.

Painting of a 19^th century tavern showing the simple dining area and the hearth used of cooking. Source unknown.

At a private home and wagon stand you might be more likely to find a simpler meal. Charles Fenno Hoffman describes such a meal he had in a tavern, ‘The fare consisted of hot rolls, tea, large pieces of pork swimming in its gravy , and a plate of noble potatoes, that pulverized when you touched them” (Braden & Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village.(1988:15).

      Another thing that ties these establishments together is the barroom. “The 19^th century barroom was like a men’s community center – air was filled with smoke, spittoons with tobacco juice, and patrons with whiskey. They talked about crops, weather, argued about politics, played cards, quarreled over insults, learned about distant goings-on from out-of-town visitors.

     There may have been a slight difference between drinks served at these different establishments. “Cock-tails” were thought to be more refined and thus were more likely served at an inn rather than a tavern or wagon stand. As Peter H. Cousins tells us, “Generally, sweet, mixed drinks known by names such as cock-tails, juleps, smashes, slings, cobblers, sangarees, punches, stone walls, stone fences, etc., were popular in city hotel barrooms and were thought to be more "refined" and thus more suitable for gentlemen (and ladies) than straight whiskey” (Cousins 2021).

Barroom at the Upscale Eagle Tavern [Photograph]. http://passionforthepast.blogspot.com/

     To conclude, taverns and inns played a vital function along the 18th and 19^th century roadways in Pennsylvania and elsewhere in the mid-Atlantic region. Given the number of these that once existed, it is surprising so few from Pennsylvania have been archaeologically examined outside of urban areas. It is hoped that the Mon-Yough Chapter’s excavation at the Greene Tree Tavern Stand in Fayette County will help further illuminate this segment of America’s historic past.

John Nass, Jr. and Laura Coley

Sources Cited

Braden, D.R. and Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. 1988  Eagle Tavern Cookbook. Henry 

Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan

Cole, H. E., & Kellogg, L. P.  1930  Stage coach and tavern tales of the Old Northwest. Cleveland,

The Arthur H. Clark company.

 

Coley, Laura, John Nass, Jr.., Douglas Corwin, Beverly Santella and Dwayne Santella

2022   The Original Travel Plaza: 19th Century Taverns Along the National Road, a Perspective from

 Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Paper presented at the 92nd Annual Meeting of the Society for

 Pennsylvania Archaeology, Ligonier, Pennsylvania. 

Cousins, P. H.  2021  Drinking at Eagle Tavern.   Retrieved from https://www.thehenryford.org/explore/blog/drinking-at-eagle-tavern

 

Earle, A. M.  1969  Stage-coach and tavern days. New York,: B. Bloom.

 

McSwigan, G.  1940  Early Inns and Taverns in Western Pennsylvania, 1750-1830. (Master of Arts),

University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.  

 

Michael, Ronald L.  1971 The Searight Tavern on the National Road: an Archaeological 

Study. Pennsylvania Folklife 21:26-35.

           

1973a  The Searight Tavern. Archaeological Information Leaflet No. 5, Center for                       

Prehistoric and Historic Site Archaeology, California State College, California,

Pennsylvania. 

      

1973b  Ceramics from a 29^th Century Southwestern Pennsylvania Tavern. Pennsylvania

Archaeologist 43(1):1-13.

 

Michael, Ronald L. and Ronald C. Carlisle  1976  Peter Colley Tavern: 19^th Century Wagon Tavern. 

Pennsylvania Archaeologist 46(1-2).

            

Sincock, J. M.  1992  America's Early Taverns: Food, Drink, Lodging and Hospitality Along the

 Nation's Early Roadways. Lebanon, Pennsylvania: Applied Arts Publishers.

 

Vivian, C.  2004  The National Road in Pennsylvania. Charleston, SC: Arcadia.

 

Yoder, P.  1969  Taverns and Travelers; Inns of the Early Midwest. Bloomington,: Indiana University 

Press.